Ruisdael, Jacob van

1628 – Jacob Izaaksoon van Ruysdael was born at Haarlem. Baroque artist, often considered the greatest Dutch landscape painter.

1648 – He was dean of the Haarlem Painter’s Guild and owned a supplying business.

1655-1659 – He settled in Amsterdam, of which he became a free citizen, and he lived there for the rest of his life (although he was buried in St Bavo’s Cathedral in Haarlem).

1646 – Ruisdael’s early work, such as the Landscape with a House in the Grove (The Hermitage, St. Petersburg), reflects his obsession with trees.

1656 – Ruisdael’s compositions became more spacious and his palette became brighter.

1665 – His paintings of waterfalls and his Marsh in the Woods (Hermitage, St. Petersburg), recall his earlier interest in forest scenes.

– But more often his late works, such as the Windmill at Wijk bij Duurstede (Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam), Wheatfields (Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York), and his numerous views of Haarlem display panoramas of the flat Dutch countryside.